The BMW Owners Anonymous book comes out again this morning. There’s one phone number that claims to offer the works; space to work, a trailer, chit chat, emergency services, etc. Whoever is on the other end doesn’t need to be an expert but it’d be nice if they knew more than me on this matter. I dial the number and explain to the woman on the other end who I am and where I found the phone number and she very kindly passes the phone to Chuck, her husband. Chuck tells me he’s about 10 minutes away from the Motel 6 with some free time this morning so he’ll head over when we get off the phone.
I had told Chuck that since I’ve charged my battery the bike will run, therefore a trailer won’t be necessary so when the tall gentlemen with fair hair walked up confirming his identity, I was still in the process of packing everything onto my bike. I explain what’s been happening to see if any of his experiences might help to shed an opinion on the matter but unfortunately for me, Chuck hasn’t had as bad of luck as I have with my bike. He offers his garage and tools to me anyway to facilitate any troubleshooting I may want to do. Figuring anything is better than the Motel 6 parking lot I take him up on his offer.
Ten minutes later I’m in a personal shop that’s cleaner than the set of Two Guys Garage. I couldn’t believe how clean, organized, and spacious it is. I get a brief tour and some instructions on where certain tools are before Chuck informs me he will have to leave in a few hours. We try to run some tests and read some material on lithium batteries such as mine but we don’t get far. All in all, I make no progress. I have no choice but to try and push on to Sparks, NV where the BMW shop will be by riding 70-100 miles then stopping for a fast charge.
I thank Chuck and his wife for their hospitality and wheel my loaded R90 out of their garage. Bruno and Gomes had to check out of the motel so I met them at Walmart for some supplies. After informing them that no real progress was made we agree to do 70 miles in the right direction. There are 290 miles in front of us, needless to say, with all the forced stops, this is going to be a long day.
Turns out gas stations don’t accommodate our power needs but Mom and Pop restaurants are very helpful.
Before reaching the ghost town of Lovelock we check the battery’s voltage since this would probably be our pit stop before getting to our final destination. It’s below 13V so it’s a good a time as any to pull over.
It’s a small town and a short ride so I remove my goggles and coast off the exit. Given all the luck I’ve been blessed with on this trip it was only natural that the largest grass fed, NFL first draft pick of a fly charges straight into my left pupil. On the plus side it was never my intention to extend my vocabulary on this trip since as of late I’ve been getting a lot of mileage out of a few chosen curse words.
After a rinse we ride down the main road through town with our eyes (or what’s left of them) peeled for outdoor electrical sockets or open businesses for that matter. It wasn’t until passing a DIY carwash that I was able to spot our winner facing the street.
Tomorrow is Saturday and BMW would be closed Sunday and Monday, meaning if any repair they attempt takes more than one days work we will automatically be stuck in Sparks/Reno until some time Tuesday at best. Given that it would set us back tremendously we decide to stay in Reno for the night and push on tomorrow to San Francisco with this fast charge method and hopefully, being in a more densely populated area, we would have better luck with repairs. It’s dark by the time we come into the mini Las Vegas that is Reno and all I’m hoping for is that the bike can get me to the motel.
